The Living 'Word' of God

The gospel according to John. Today we'll be starting in chapter 1, verse 1, as we enter this season of preaching through this really just amazing eyewitness testimony of the life of Christ.

While he was here in his earthly ministry, John was able to be with him and was witness to so many of these signs and wonders, his life, of course his crucifixion, his resurrection.

So as we look now to the gospel according to John as our compass, we will be spending a lot of time with him as we reflect on the really wonderful theology found in this gospel.

The title of today's sermon is The Living Word of God, Christ being the

Word. It's John chapter 1, verses 1 through 5. Really just so deep in theology and some of the themes that we see throughout the gospel packed into these first five verses, we have three really great attributes of Christ, of God.

I once heard John's gospel described as a pool. I thought that was kind of an interesting illustration.

John's gospel has often been compared to a pool in which a child could wade safely or an elephant could swim.

It's both simple and profound. It is for the beginner in the faith or for the mature

Christian. I think the ocean is better. Just imagine a shore to walk on and the shallows but also the deepest depths that have no end.

First verse, we're just going to start and read it together. Read along with me as I read.

Please follow me in your Bibles. This is the deity of Jesus Christ. Chapter 1, verse 1.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the

Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.

In Him was life, and the life was the light of men, and the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overtake it.

The opening of John starts with the declaration that Jesus is the Word of God. The Word was not created but has existed from the beginning.

It is the Word that brought all creation into being, and Jesus was with God the Father from the beginning.

It is through Jesus, the Word of God, that all things were made. And John is strongly and clearly stating that Jesus has existed from eternity past.

John is saying Jesus is God. Jesus is the bodily manifestation of God in the flesh.

John describes how the Word, which is the Son, became flesh and took on a bodily form to enter the creation and explain

Himself to us. To give light to the dark world. It's important to remember that John wrote to believers everywhere.

His intention was that many would read this account. He wrote to both Jews and then knew non -Jews would read as well.

John's testimony is filled with credibility and details of an eyewitness, the firsthand account of one of Jesus' 12 disciples.

Now in contrast to let's say another gospel like Luke's, just a really great historical eyewitness investigation, it's almost like an investigated biography of Jesus' life.

Really a blessing to us as believers and to the church. Very historical and very accurate in detail.

John's gospel is not a biography. John gives his readers a thematic presentation of Jesus' life.

The audience is important. The book of John was written to give an eyewitness testimony to the

Jewish people. Of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus with an evangelistic purpose of demonstrating

Jesus was a man and also the Christ. And that believing in Him is the only way to eternal life.

Many in John's original audience also had a Greek background. Historically we understand that the

Greek culture encouraged the worship of many mythological gods.

For the Greek culture at the time, these supernatural characteristics were as important to Greeks as maybe genealogies were to the

Jews. The apostles showed that Jesus is not only different from but far superior to these imaginary gods of mythology.

In today's passage, John starts his gospel account with three really profound attributes of Jesus, the living word of God.

So that you can know the reliability of putting your trust in Jesus according to John's testimony of the

Christ's earthly ministry. Three profound attributes of Jesus. The first is the preexistent eternality of Jesus in verses 1 and 2.

Second is powerful creation in verse 3. And third, pure holiness in verses 4 and 5.

Three profound attributes of Jesus. The first is His preexistent eternality.

Verses 1 and 2, in the beginning was the word. And the word was with God and the word was

God. He was in the beginning with God. In verse 1, John starts with a very familiar phrase here.

In the beginning. In the beginning, Genesis 1 -1, in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

John starts with connecting preexistence in eternity past to the

God -man, Jesus of Nazareth. He starts here with existing forever, but without a starting point.

The word he uses here that takes us back to creation means the commencement of something as an action.

This is a process or state of being. Beginning. The point isn't

Jesus as part of the beginning. Jesus is the origin of the beginning.

Same word Paul used in his description of Jesus as the preexistent one before creation.

Before creation. Colossians chapter 1. And He is before all things.

And in Him all things hold together. Jesus is both creator and sustainer.

And this is a theme that we see in other writings from John. This is a theme that keeps popping its head back up.

The apostle actually started his epistles with the exact same theme he started with here. 1

John chapter 1 verse 11. What was from the beginning what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we beheld and touched with our hands concerning the word of life.

Referring to Christ. Same word. Beginning. Clearly John is pointing out that Jesus existed before creation and is actually the originator of creation.

The context of verse 3 makes that clear. Before the beginning was the word.

The logos. Literally the Greek term word. The logos. It can simply mean a communication whereby the mind finds expression.

Word. Or it can even mean computation. Reckoning as in a formal accounting, especially of one's actions.

And frequently it's used with figurative extension of commercial terminology. Here John is using the term to describe the independent personified expression of God.

The logos. Literature shows traces of a way of thinking that was widespread in contemporary syncretism.

As well as in Jewish wisdom literature. The most prominent feature of which is the concept of the logos.

Meaning the independent personified word of God. It is the distinctive teaching of the fourth gospel that this divine word took on human form in a historical person.

That is Jesus of Nazareth. So what does John mean by the word?

Well historically the word was a term used by theologians and philosophers. Both Jews and Greeks and in many different ways.

In Hebrew scripture the word was an agent of creation. Psalm 33 says,

By the word of Yahweh the heavens were made and by the breath of his mouth all their host.

So in the Old Testament the word is the source of God's message to his people through the prophets.

Hosea chapter 4, Listen to the word of Yahweh, O sons of Israel, for Yahweh has a contention against the inhabitants of the land because there is no truth or loving kindness or knowledge of God in the land.

Listen to the word of Yahweh. The word is God's law, his standard of holiness.

Psalm 119, Your word I have treasured in my heart that I may not sin against you.

In Greek philosophy the word was the principle of reason that governed the world. Think of the concept of the thought still in the mind.

In contrast in Hebrew thinking the word was another expression for God. The apostle's description shows clearly that he is speaking about Jesus, Jesus of Nazareth.

That is the immediate context of this start of the gospel account. Look at chapter 1 verse 14,

And the word became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory, glory as of the only begotten from the

Father, full of grace and truth. That is the immediate context. The point

John is making is Jesus is a human being. He knew. He knew and loved.

And at the same time, this human being whom John knew and loved at the same time is the creator of the universe.

The creator of the universe. John is saying Jesus is the ultimate revelation of God.

Jesus is the living picture of God's holiness. The one who holds all creation together.

The implication to Jewish readers was a claim of deity. This is a claim of deity. To say this man

Jesus was God was blasphemous. For the Greek readers the statement the word became human was unthinkable.

This was beyond comprehension. Nonsense to them. To the apostle this new understanding of the word was the good news of Jesus Christ.

John will use this same kind of terminology in the revelation of Jesus Christ, which he also penned.

Revelation 19 and being clothed with a garment dipped in blood, his name is also called the word of God.

The word of God. John says Jesus was with God. Another implication of the

Trinity we see throughout the Gospels. This aspect of the Son or the word as a member of the

Trinity speaks to Christ's pre -existent eternality. John 17.

Now Father glorify me together with yourself with the glory which I had with you before the world was.

And again we can look to John's other writings outside of the Gospel. First John chapter 1 verse 2.

And the life was manifested and we have seen and bear witness and proclaim to you the eternal life which was with the

Father and was manifested to us. John is explaining the God man.

Jesus of Nazareth is the pre -existent one. He says in verse 2 he was in the beginning with God.

John's use of the pronoun translated he very literally states this one.

We can read it like this. This one. Jesus was in the beginning with God.

The attribute of God's pre -existence. His pre -existence eternality. This is an important doctrine of the church.

Here is one definition I thought was helpful. The eternality of God refers to his timeless nature.

God had no beginning and will have no end. This is one of the foundational beliefs of Christianity.

If God is not eternal then eternal life is not his to give to anyone.

Very important for us to get that. Also if God had a beginning he too would have to have a creator at which point he is not the one true

God. Without the eternality of God Christianity is futile. God's eternal nature is very important to us because it ensures that God will always be there for us.

There is no time where God has not been. Whenever we need him no matter when we are troubled our eternal

God will always be there for us. Understanding the never -ending depth and the eternal nature of God helps us in times of trouble.

I once heard the eternality of God described like this. Time is often represented by a straight line drawn on a page.

We call this a timeline. To get a grasp of what the eternality of God means when you have drawn your timeline you must picture

God as the whole page on which the line is drawn. Picture a massive hurricane raging over the ocean.

On the surface of the sea violent winds whip the water into giant waves and create a scene of havoc and chaos.

Yet a mere 25 feet below the surface the waters are clear and calm. The fish there go on living their lives totally unaware of the thunderous tumult just above them.

When there is depth there is peace and so it is in the Christian life. So what is the implication for you this morning?

Understanding God's eternality. Well God's eternal nature is very important to you because it ensures that God will always be there for you.

Whenever you need him no matter where you are no matter what is going on when you are troubled our eternal

God will always be there for you. God is not restricted by time or space.

He existed before the creation. He exists outside of time and space.

This is the description that John starts with to describe Jesus. Jesus existed eternally.

He is the source of trust. With this truth we can put our trust in the one who exists forever.

The one who existed before all things were made. The pre -existent eternality of Christ.

And this is the first of the three just super profound attributes of Jesus.

We have to consider this. John starts his eyewitness account this way. Pre -existent eternality.

Jesus' attribute of pre -existent eternality demonstrates that as God he is the only possible source for sinners to have peace with God.

There isn't a second option. This attribute tells us something very important.

Jesus' attribute of pre -existent eternality demonstrates that as God he is the only possible source for sinners to have peace with God.

And then John keeps going. The second attribute of Jesus. Powerful creation in verse 3.

Powerful creation. He says all things came into being through him.

And apart from him nothing came into being that has come into being.

In verse 3 John now transitions into an explanation of God's eternal state.

His eternal pre -existence. Logically. I mean just think about it. If God existed from eternity past then he must be the causer to bring reality as we know it into existence.

Our conclusion is simple. God existed before the beginning and God caused all things to come into existence.

And then he entered the creation. Amazing. In the immediate context we know he's describing

Jesus' entry into the physical world. Look at verse 10 of chapter 1.

He was in the world and the world was made through him and the world did not know him.

God didn't use what he had available. He created from nothing.

From the power of his being. He spoke creation into existence.

It's kind of fascinating on a side note. Some of the most modern contemporary secular high branch scientific theory out there, quantum mechanics and some of this stuff, is now saying that with the use of sound and frequency matter can be created.

It's pretty interesting. It's the year 2000. Moses wrote this in 1446 BC. So we're catching up about 3 ,000 years later from the beginning.

God spoke existence and now scientists are saying, oh yeah you could do that. It's kind of interesting. Side note.

John says all things came into being through him. All things came into being.

Now sometimes all doesn't mean all but sometimes it does. John is using the adjective pertaining to a high degree of completeness or wholeness.

As in whole. The whole creation. Nothing came into being that has come into being outside of what

God has done. Sometimes all means all. The absolute sense of the whole of creation.

All things. The universe. Even the things we don't perceive in the invisible realm.

1 Corinthians chapter 8. Yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things.

And we exist for him. And one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things.

And we exist through him. The theme throughout the New Testament. Throughout the

New Testament for the ministry of Jesus Christ, including humankind and everything else that possesses life.

The application is of everything in heaven and earth that is in need of uniting and redeeming.

And this is beyond just the physical realm. God didn't exist in heaven and then decided to make the earth.

Everything in the spiritual and physical came into existence by the very power and will of God.

Again, Colossians 1. For in him all things were created, both in the heavens and on the earth, visible and invisible.

Whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things have been created through him and for him.

And now we can interact with Jesus as our Savior and Lord because of God's good pleasure to redeem the creation.

Because of God's good pleasure to reveal himself to us and make a way of peace through the

Son, Jesus. The creator of the universe. The creator of the heavens and the earth.

The creator of all things. The creator makes himself known to us in the personal being of Jesus.

Hebrews chapter 1. In these last days God spoke to us in his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made the worlds.

He made the worlds. When God created, he made everything from nothing.

From nothing. So how do we think about creation through a contemporary lens?

This is one of the distinctives of Laurel Bible Church. Some things you have to have grace.

We try to have grace in everything as a pastor, so let me be clear. But this is a hill I'm willing to die on.

Jesus Christ made the earth and his perfect, inerrant word tells us how he did that.

We as a collection of believers are going to hold to this. I am going to teach this that God made everything the way the

Bible said he made it. Not the way scientists today say that he made it. Literal six -day creation.

This is worth fighting for. Now we can think of the Bible's claims or even comparison to scientists or modern theory.

I think we all know Charles Darwin, so we're thinking about evolution. Charles Darwin's theory of evolutionary biology, it is theoretical.

We often remove that term theory, but I don't know if you guys are aware of that. But evolution is not proven still to today.

It's a model that they're looking at, and it's changed a bunch of times. The amount of time how old the earth is has changed several times within the last 100, 200 years.

I think an even better person to consider is a contemporary of Darwin's, a guy named Herbert Spencer. Herbert Spencer lived from 1820 to 1903.

He was an English philosopher, a biologist, anthropologist, socialist. He was actually a prominent classical liberal political theorist in the

Victorian era. Pretty prominent guy. Herbert Spencer is most well known for the term survival of the fittest, where I think often we probably attribute that to Darwin.

No, this guy wrote a book called Principles of Biology. That's actually a little bit more grounded in scientific fact.

You make a hypothesis, you test it, you repeat it, you prove something to be true. Charles Darwin's book,

I don't know if you've read it, is very imaginative and very theoretical. There's just a lot of kind of exposition that's coming out of the mind.

Now, Spencer wrote Principles of Biology in 1864, so he's a contemporary of Darwin. Spencer determined that everything exists fits into one of five categories.

So Spencer said this, everything fits into one of these categories. Time, force, action, space, and matter.

And he was applauded by the scientific community of the day. This statement is really affirmed by the first law of thermodynamics, which just in a brief nutshell, you could read a paper describing this and you can't understand it, but just in a nutshell, it's within an isolated system, the total energy of the system is constant, even if energy has been converted from one form to another.

So think about that. Everything fits into one of these five categories. Time, force, action, space, and matter.

I once heard a preacher explain it like this. I thought this was really well done. The Bible said it first.

The Bible said it first. Genesis 1 -1, in the beginning, that's time.

God, that's force. Created, that's action. The heavens, that's space.

The earth, that's matter. So everything that Herbert Spencer discovered in the 19th century was in the first verse of Scripture.

The first verse of the Bible recorded by Moses in 1446 BC, approximately 3 ,500 years later, modern science has caught up.

The Bible says that God created everything. And in saying that, the Bible gives us all the categories that exist.

But that doesn't quite do it. That is a good illustration, and I really appreciate the preacher who said that.

The Bible gives us all the categories that exist. We don't need the law of thermodynamics and all this scientific stuff.

You're talking about a miraculous miracle, the creation of everything from nothing.

You can't explain that with science. It's a miracle. It's creation. Really, the law of thermodynamics is another way of stating the law of the conservation of energy.

That energy cannot be created or destroyed, but merely converted from one form or another. But it puts

God in a box. This really just doesn't do it. Remember, God created everything from nothing.

The attribute of powerful creation touches on God's omnipotence. God is all -powerful.

And one way to define the idea of being all -powerful is simply, God has all power.

God has all power. He can exercise dominion over the entire universe, carry out the purposes of His wisdom, govern the hearts of men, and even create things out of nothing.

Herbert Spencer was close, but his categories, no matter how much they appear to conform with Genesis 1 .1,

do not account for God's omnipotence. Early church fathers such as Theophilus, Justin Martyr, and Origen actually believed that matter was preexistent with God.

They said matter preexisted before God. Alistair McGrath, in his book, Theology, the

Basics, noted this on God's all -powerful attribute demonstrated in this area of His creating, the powerful creation.

And this is in the book. Irenaeus, the disciple of Polycarp, disciple of John, responded to this arguing not only against the

Gnostic teaching of two gods, but even more against Greek philosophy, which taught that matter had preexisted and that God became the divine architect as He ordered this preexistent matter.

Irenaeus argued there was no preexistent matter. Everything required to be created out of nothing.

Tertullian, the early church father and Christian apologist, later argued that the world depended on God for its existence.

Now we're getting a little closer. This was in contrast to the view of Aristotle that the world depended on nothing.

But both the view of Aristotle and Plato were at war with early Christians. But by the 4th century, most

Christian theologians rejected the Platonic view. Even in the form associated with origin and argued for God being the creator of both the spiritual and material worlds.

Colin Gunton, author of The Triune Creator, A Historical and Systematic Theology, said this.

I thought this was helpful. God is not to be likened, let us say, to a potter who makes a pot from the clay which is to hand.

He is, rather, like one who makes both the clay and the pot. This teaching, which baffles understanding and is often rejected because there is no analogy to it in human experience, must be understood as an interpretation and summary of Scripture's witness to God as a whole.

There is a well -known illustration on God as creator. Some of you may have heard this. I thought this was sort of humorous.

A scientist told God, we no longer need you. We no longer need you,

God. We have advanced to the point that we can create anything. We only need our own ingenuity.

God said, let's put that to a test. The scientist said, sure.

What do you have in mind? What is the test? God said, let us each make a man.

Just like I did with Adam, I will go first. So then God created man from the dirt.

The scientist leaned down to pick up a handful of dirt so that he could replicate the work of God, and God said, now wait a minute.

You need to get your own dirt. You see, God made everything. The fact is, you can do a lot of things, but the only resources available to you are really the creation of God.

You and I are a part of God's creation. So what does it mean that we are created beings?

Well, one thing we take away is that we have no basis for pride. This should remove any pride that we have.

Remember that you only exist because God made you. That means in terms of your life, whether you're a

Christian or not, that you have the things you have only because God gave them to you.

And especially as a Christian, the special gifts that you may have, you only have those because God gave them to you.

The implication of God creating anything means that God, with God, you are valuable and unique.

However, that also means that apart from God, you are nothing. You're nothing apart from God.

And on top of that, if you try to live without Him, you are abandoning the purpose for which you were made.

Think about God's complete and powerful omnipotence displayed in the act of creation.

Do you ever feel like your life is too complex? And sometimes you think you're outside of God's reach.

Just too complex for God to understand. The 17th century French philosopher

Blaise Pascal said this in his book, Pensées. It just means thoughts. The greatest single distinguishing feature of the omnipotence of God is that our imagination gets lost when thinking about it.

We can think about God in a way that we can't even comprehend, but sometimes the trials of life, we forget

God's omnipotence. And we can't even think about all the good things that God has given to us and what awaits us in the eternal reality of our salvation.

When uncertain about the power of God, even to hold you in salvation, when uncertain about the trials you may be facing, when uncertain about your standing before Him amidst your sin, remember

God's complete and powerful omnipotence displayed in the act of creation.

Never forget this simple truth. God created the entire universe and everything else, the unseen things.

There is nothing too difficult for Him. God created you. Jesus is alive today.

His power is greater than your sin. His power is bigger than any problem you may be facing.

His power is bigger than anything and everything you may be dealing with.

That's an important attribute that we need to know and that's how John starts his eyewitness account.

Three profound attributes of Jesus. The preexistent eternality in verses 1 and 2 and Jesus' attribute of omnipotence in powerful creation, verse 3.

The attribute of omnipotence in powerful creation gives the believer hope that Jesus as God is perfectly powerful to aid them in times of need.

Jesus' attribute of the omnipotence, the powerful aspect of God in powerful creation gives the believer hope that Jesus as God is perfectly powerful to aid them in times of need.

And then number 3, pure holiness. Pure holiness in verses 4 and 5. John says, in Him was life and the life was the light of men and the light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not overtake it.

John starts his gospel with profound theological implications for the attributes of Jesus.

The word for life, John uses, is of God and the Christ. This is not physical life. This is transcendent life.

Since the life in Him was of God, people through following Him obtained the combination of light and life.

Jesus explained it like this. John 5, just as the Father has life in Himself, even so He gave to the

Son also to have life in Himself. Following verses 1 through 5, really in the first 18 verses of this chapter, the discussion turns naturally to the life of the believers, which proceeds from God and Christ.

And there is an eschatological implication here. Beyond grace and holiness lived in the life of a believer.

Just think about it. What happens after the believer dies? What is life after death?

John chapter 11, Jesus said, I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me will live even if he dies.

John 14, Jesus said, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the

Father but through Me. Because Jesus is the life of God, He is the light of men.

It's not just that Jesus had the life of God in Him. Jesus was the life of God, the light of men.

John uses the word meaning light in contrast to darkness, but in a transcendent way.

This is one of many passages that shows that light is the element and sphere of the divine.

The divine proceeds from the light that suddenly shines forth. God dwells in the light.

God is described as light, pure and illuminating. As in the divine

Redeemer, Jesus described in the fourth gospel on divinity as light.

Jesus explains this later in John's eyewitness account. John chapter 8, then

Jesus again spoke to them saying, I am the light of the world. He who follows

Me will never walk in the darkness, but will have the light of life. John chapter 9, while I am in the world,

I am the light of the world. And then John chapter 12, I have come as light into the world so that everyone who believes in Me will not remain in darkness.

And then we see the contrast, darkness. The light shines in the darkness.

This goes beyond a state of being devoid of light as in darkness or gloom. This is not it's dark outside.

This is not nighttime. This is a darkening of the mind or spirit, spiritual darkness.

A figurative extension of ignorance in moral and religious matters. John's using the term as a category including everything that is at enmity with God, earthly and demonic.

A contrast of perfect pure light in divine holiness and purity transcendent of man versus vile darkness of the human mind in ignorance of holiness and earthly and demonic war -like opposition to the purity of God.

This contrast natural conclusion is God's perfect and righteous judgment of evil in spiritual darkness as the being of perfect pure light in spiritual holiness.

John chapter 3 and this is the judgment. This is the judgment that the light has come into the world and men loved the darkness rather than the light for their deeds were evil.

And notice the summit peak here as John concludes his thoughts on explaining these profound attributes of Jesus as the

God man. The darkness did not overtake the light. We could read it like this, the darkness can never extinguish it.

The darkness can never extinguish it. That simple statement means the darkness of evil never has and never will overcome

God's light. Jesus Christ is the creator of life. John is saying that the life of Jesus brings light to mankind.

In the light of Jesus we see ourselves as we really are. Every human being on planet

Earth is a sinner and in need of a Savior. Every single person.

In the light of Jesus you see yourselves who you really are, as you really are. You are a sinner in need of a

Savior. When you follow Jesus the true light you can avoid walking blindly in spiritual darkness.

When you follow Jesus you can avoid falling into sin. And when you do sin

His perfect grace His holiness will lead you out of that sin.

Jesus lights the path ahead of us so that we can see how to properly live while we're here on Earth.

Jesus removes the darkness of sins from our lives. So just think about that as you read this verse.

In what ways have you allowed the light of Christ to shine in your life? Let Christ guide your life and you'll not need to stumble in darkness.

We have this book study coming up, Trusting God. Really helpful brother Jerry Bridges.

He wrote another book called The Pursuit of Holiness. The Pursuit of Holiness, also by Jerry Bridges.

He said this on holiness. I thought this was great. He said, one day as I was reading the second chapter of First John I realized that my personal life's objective regarding holiness was less than that of the

Apostle John's. He was saying in effect make it your aim not to sin.

As I thought about this I realized that deep within my heart my real aim was not to sin very much.

And he asked this question, can you imagine, can you imagine a soldier going into battle with the aim of not getting hit by a bullet very much?

Jesus is the light of the world and his perfect holiness is our ultimate pattern of example in this life.

His holiness is a help to sinners. Three profound attributes of Jesus, preexistent eternality in verses 1 and 2, powerful creation in verse 3, and pure holiness in verses 4 and 5.

Jesus' attribute of pure holiness causes the sinner to discern good and evil and Jesus as God further enables godly living after saving the sinner.

That's pure holiness. A profound attribute of Christ. And this is how

John starts his eyewitness account. He says, okay, let's just get a few things clear. Jesus is

God. And here's the attributes that I saw. This is reality. And the third one is pure holiness.

Jesus' attribute of pure holiness causes the sinner to discern good and evil and Jesus as God further enables godly living after saving the sinner.

Jesus of Nazareth taught us about his character and his attributes that we may know

God and believe. While he was here on earth, he explained God to mankind and showed the sinner the way of salvation.

What Jesus taught and what he did in terms of how he lived are tied inseparably to who he is.

The Apostle John's crystal clear testimony shows Jesus as fully human and fully

God. Amazingly, God took on human flesh and entered into his creation to save sinners and reveal his glory.

Jesus the creator took upon himself full humanity and lived as a man.

An important point needs to be made here. Jesus never ceased to be the eternal

God who has always existed. As the creator and sustainer of all things,

Jesus is the only source of eternal life. And this is the truth about Jesus and the foundation of all truth.

If you cannot or do not believe this basic truth, you likely will not trust your eternal destiny to him.

The plain reality is that without God's good pleasure of glorifying himself by saving sinners, no one would be saved.

Salvation is an act of God. The gospel was recorded for the benefit of the sinner to know that Jesus is

God and that by believing in him, you will be saved. And that is why

John wrote this gospel. The Apostle wrote to build faith and competence in Jesus Christ so that you may believe that Jesus truly was and is the son of God.

This is the purpose statement. John chapter 20, therefore, many other signs

Jesus also did in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book, but these have been written so that you may believe

Jesus is the Christ, the son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name.

In today's passage, John starts his gospel account with three profound attributes of Jesus, the living word of God so that you can know the reliability of putting your trust in Jesus, according to John's testimony of the

Christ's earthly ministry. In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was

God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and apart from him, nothing came into being that has come into being.

In him was life, and the life was the light of men, and the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overtake it.

Three profound attributes of Jesus. Jesus' attribute of preexistent eternality demonstrates that as God he is the only possible source for sinners to have peace with God.

Jesus' attribute of omnipotence and powerful creation gives the believer hope that Jesus as God is perfectly powerful to aid them in times of need.

And Jesus' attribute of pure holiness causes the sinner to discern good and evil, and Jesus as God further enables godly living after saving the sinner.